Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

[mikechamp]

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk that occurred on December 29.

This is the 3rd of 3 recent chats getting posted tonight. There are 2 bonus questions this time: one that @phins will appreciate, and a debate starter about best mustaches. Enjoy the read!!

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-liv ... 19928.html
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What does the left side of the infield look like for Milwaukee?

Mark Polishuk
Ortiz at shortstop, and Durbin/Dunn as a third base platoon. Milwaukee could potentially get a veteran to help out, as well. Further moves might hinge on whether or not they're able to move Rhys Hoskins, which seems doubtful, but losing Hoskins from the infield (and some of his contract from the ledger) creates more flexibility for bigger acquisitions.
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With the state of the Reds outfield (not being very good), is there any chance they bite the bullet and go for Robert Jr? If they are not going to pay for a prime time outfielder, is that there best chance?

Mark Polishuk
With the Reds already coming off an injury-riddled season, adding Robert just brings more risk to the table. That said, the upside is also clearly there, and it's possible the White Sox might be open to selling Robert at, say, 90 cents on the dollar rather than their full asking price. Even a reduced ask is a still a lot, of course, and it depends on how aggressive the Reds want to be.
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What do the Dodgers have left to do? Nolan coming to LA?

Mark Polishuk
Arenado doesn't seem like a fit, nor does it seem like the Dodgers would feel compelled to make that move. I could see them adding more relief help, and obviously they're big contenders to sign Roki Sasaki.
Dodgers have already crossed off a lot of items on their offseason shopping list, plus naturally their roster was already pretty loaded.
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Would Randal Grichuk be a good signing for the Reds to platoon with Jake Fraley?

Mark Polishuk
I guess it depends if Grichuk views his 2024 as a sign that he deserves more of a regular role, or if he views it as evidence that he is an excellent platoon bat, and is marketing himself as such. If the latter, Grichuk is a good fit for many teams, and a particularly good fit for Cincy's needs.
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I’ve been seeing a lot of rumors online about the Yankees trying to pull off a trade for Donovan, is that just a bs rumor or has anyone heard anything?

Mark Polishuk
The Yankees' interest in Donovan dates back to last year, and there hasn't been any recent reporting about continued trade pushes. But, between Donovan's solid season and the fact that he'd so perfectly check many boxes for the Yankees, it would be surprising if NY hadn't continued calling the Cardinals.

Since St. Louis isn't doing a full-on rebuild, I don't see Donovan being moved. He's under team control through 2027, and the Cards surely think they can contend again before that.
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Gorman for Torkelson?

Mark Polishuk
With Contreras set to cover most of the 1B time in St. Louis, this doesn't seem like a fit for the Cardinals.
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Any buzz or chatter - like at all - on Kershaw for 2025?

Mark Polishuk
Much like McCutchen and the Pirates, it's likely just a matter of time before Kershaw and the Dodgers work out their next contract.
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Will the Pirates sign Charlie Morton?

Mark Polishuk
It would seemingly require the Bucs to trade another pitcher from their rotation first, which isn't an impossibility if such a trade would land them some hitting.
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Is this the year for Dick Allen to get into the Hall of Fame?

Mark Polishuk
You missed the news a few weeks ago, but Allen did indeed get voted in by the veterans' committee.
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Teams seem to be overvaluing their prospects or younger players a bit much these days. Why is that? I miss the days when a team had a chance to acquire premium veteran talent they took it and didn’t worry about said young player potentially becoming a superstar. Flags fly forever, right?

Mark Polishuk
Finances play a role, since a controllable star prospect is such huge surplus value to a roster. But for this particular offseason, as several executives have pointed out, there is a somewhat limited market for offering prospects. Due to the expanded playoffs, a lot of teams feel like they can contend in 2025, and there aren't many clubs in pure rebuild mode.
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Best mustache of all time?

Mark Polishuk
Rollie Fingers immediately leaps to mind.
In a baseball context, that is. Outside of baseball, I dunno, Hercule Poirot or Freddie Mercury?
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[phins]

Interesting that he's saying teams aren't interested in prospects as a return this offseason.

My assumption when he says prospects, he's meaning teenagers in the Complex leagues, because any prospect who has made it to AA is basically just a hot streak or a tweak away from the bigs.

What is happening- in my view- is the math nerds have infiltrated so many teams, they understand the probabilities are so small, and adding one player moves the needle so little, that trading away years of control for single digit win probability increases is not positive leverage.

Baseball has become a game of finding the edges and identifying underrated talent in trades and developing the ones you acquire.

Which is why I believe Milwaukee to be such a model front office. The prospects they're trading for aren't top-50 players or 60 FV prospects, they're all prospects with skills they value who can fill a role for them. Then they develop them to perform a grade above their rating.

I've gotten to the point where the development of prospects might actually rate higher for me than the drafting of prospects. But that's a chicken or egg type debate.

Fun chat. Thanks for posting.